Anna Asli Suriyah (I Come from Syria) is a play about the political and humanitarian crisis facing Syria. Weaving together current events with personal history, interview-based monologues, and fantastical Syrian folklore and tradition, the play transports the audience from the United States to Syria and beyond as they peer into the personal anguish of a Syrian American woman trying to make sense of the politics and devastation enveloping her ancestral homeland.

“Longing for a way of life lost, for a sense of daily security destroyed, is deeply felt in Anna Asli Suriyah. . . . What’s exciting about [Polybe + Seats’s] approach is the reinventing and reimagining of performance modes and ways of creating new work.” –The Brooklyn Rail

Our workshop production of The Art of Hijab, Kohl Black and the Right Way to Pray by associate artistic director Sarah Badiyah Sakaan was presented as part of LaGuardia Performing Arts Center's Rough Draft Festival in 2015. Directed by artistic director Jessica Silsby Brater, our workshop will feature performances by Sakaan as well as Don Castro*, Marie-Lou Nahhas, Nuah Ozryel, Indika Senanayake*, and Lindsay Torrey* , stage management by Rachel Calter* and designs by Gavin Hecker, Karen Boyer, Natalie Robin and Leslie Smith.

Inspired by YouTube tutorials on make-up and hijab styling, The Art of Hijab, Kohl Black, and the Right Way to Pray engages with Muslim feminist identity and playwright Sarah Badiyah Sakaan’s experience growing up in a Muslim household in the U.S. Bible Belt. The play explores the juxtaposition of American Muslim women living assimilated lives yet choosing to dress modestly. Following Polybe + Seats’s 2014 Anna Asli Suriyah (I come from Syria), the project is a continuation of the company’s interest in exploring Muslim-American identity.

Polybe was Gertrude Stein's dog. Seats are where you sit.

Polybe + Seats has been making theater together since 2001. We produce new plays and collaboratively developed work that experiments with images, language, structure, and storytelling. By presenting our stories from multiple perspectives, we invite our audiences to make their own connections with our work. Our work has been presented by The University of Michigan, Mabou Mines / Suite, Brooklyn Fire Proof, and the Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge.

By choosing stories that we ourselves are curious about, we engage our audiences' curiosity and imaginations.

"Polybe + Seats launches Granada in a storytelling tour-de-force that sets the foundation for their future collaborative work to come." - Theater Online

"A promising young company bravely taking on the impossible Stein challenge." --Charles McNulty, The Village Voice

July 2011 News: Thank you to the over 90 supporters of our first-ever crowdfunding campaign, hosted by IndieGoGo.com!